Must-read recap: The New Lede's top stories
Endangered Species Act failures offer a "cautionary tale;" a new study finds over 57,400 PFAS-contaminated sites across US; and a high-tech executive discusses his company's efforts to clean up PFAS
Endangered Species Act failures offer “cautionary tale”
A key US conservation law lacks the resources to help most imperiled species fully recover, according to a study published October 12.
The study suggests that the failures of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which remains one of the strongest conservation measures in the world, stem from insufficient funding and a tendency to offer protection too late, when population sizes have already severely diminished.
While thousands of species have been listed by the ESA since it was passed in 1973, only 54 have recovered to the point where they no longer require protection.
The findings may offer lessons for the upcoming United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which will convene in December with the intent to finalize a post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The framework would help conserve the estimated one million plant and animal species at risk for extinction worldwide due to human activities.
“Our paper is showing the ESA as a bit of a cautionary tale,” said Erich Eberhard, a researcher at Columbia University and an author of the study. “You can have really ambitious goals, you can have the tools for conservation, but you need to back it up.” (Read the rest of the story.)
New study says more than 57,400 US sites have PFAS contamination
Scientists have identified more than 57,400 sites in the United States that can be presumed to be contaminated with toxins linked to cancer and other health problems, according to a study published on Wednesday.
The sites identified by the analysis include 49,145 industrial facilities, 4,255 wastewater treatment plants, 3,493 military sites, and 519 airports. A map of the sites is publicly available on a PFAS Project Lab website.
To identify areas of potential PFAS contamination concern, researchers pinpointed three types of sites: those where aqueous film forming foam, a PFAS-containing fire suppressant, had been discharged; sites where PFAS are used in manufacturing or industrial processes; and sites where PFAS-containing waste is handled. The researchers then validated their model of presumed contamination sites with sites known to be contaminated.
In the study published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters, researchers from Northeastern University and Whitman College said attempting to accurately track PFAS contamination is challenging.
“PFAS contamination at these locations is very likely,” Alissa Cordner, senior author on the paper and co-director of the PFAS Project Lab, said in a press release. (Read the rest of the story.)
Q&A: Tackling PFAS-contaminated water with technology
A wave of tech companies are developing strategies to remove toxic PFAS chemicals from drinking water and wastewater. The company 374Water has created waste processors called AirSCWOs that use an advanced oxidation method to convert toxic sludge — including PFAS-contaminated waste streams — to clean water. The New Lede led a Q&A with Marc Deshusses, co-founder of 374Water, to discuss his company’s PFAS removal technology and the future of “forever chemical” remediation.
Q: A recent study identified more than 57,400 sites in the US with PFAS contamination. EWG has mapped PFAS contamination of drinking water or groundwater in almost 1,400 sites in 49 states. Given how widespread this problem is, do you think it is actually feasible to remove PFAS from US water on a large scale?
A: Yes, it is possible, but it will take substantial investment and effort. First and foremost, the use of PFAS with known environmental and human health effects must be banned, just as DDT, parathion, and PCBs have been banned from manufacture and use. This will eliminate new sources of PFAS leaving the legacy contamination for remediation and natural attenuation.
Second, and most importantly, the waste, water, and wastewater industries, including the engineering consultancies, must adopt innovation and a new way of addressing PFAS and waste, in general. There are emerging technologies that are commercially viable and ready for deployment. However, federal and state agencies and the water and wastewater utilities suffer from human and financial resource constraints and are typically risk averse, impeding the implementation of new technologies. (Read the rest of this article.)